


Hope the M&Ms Were Worth It

by Red Charade (traciller)



Series: Flash Tumblr Ficlets [2]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barry is a good dad, Barry is a good husband, Len freaks out, Len is a good dad, Len is a good husband, M/M, Mentions of past child abuse, concerned fathers, domestic!Coldflash, married!Coldflash, mentions of past juvenile delinquency, teenagers misbehaving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 03:33:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5523887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traciller/pseuds/Red%20Charade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barry and Len are waiting up for their teenage son, Michael, who is out WAY passed his curfew. Both are worried, but it's Len who needs the comfort tonight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hope the M&Ms Were Worth It

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Flash or any of its characters. This fanwork is purely for entertainment purposes only. Michael is not an official character, so therefore counts as an OC, however he more or less belongs to the entire Coldflash fandom. I don't even know who first created him.

As a teenager Michael stays out too late one night, worrying Len and Barry. Len is LIVID. He knows what kinds of things can happen to kids late at night and Michael isn’t as street smart as Len was at that age.

“Len, what are you doing?” Barry asks, when he sees his husband grabbing a jacket and heading for the door.

“I’m going to look for him.”

“We don’t know where he is. His friends know we’re looking for him, so I’m sure he’ll be home soon.” Barry was SO worried, but he can see that the anger his husband is expressing is really just masking the fact that he’s beside himself with worry and Barry doesn’t want to make that worse.

“Then, I’ll stand out in the driveway so that the first damn thing he sees when he pulls up is my fucking head exploding!”

“Len, stop. Calm down.” Barry said, crossing the distance to his husband and wrapping his arms around him, giving him a kiss before pulling away enough to take the jacket from him and put it back on the peg by the door.

“Calm down?? Do you know what kind of stuff can happen to kids his age late at night in this city?”

“Len…I do know. But, he’s a good kid and he’s not getting into any of that kind of trouble. He probably just met a friend to goof off with at McDonald’s or something.”

“It’s after midnight.”

“McDonald’s stays open all night these days, babe. Has for a while.”

Len was quiet, clenching and unclenching his jaw.

“Don’t work yourself up like this, come on. He’ll be home soon and we’ll ground him until he’s 30 and everything will be fine.” Barry said, rubbing his husband’s shoulders and then down his arms a bit and around to his back.

“You really think that’s all this is?”

“I really do.” Barry pressed a light kiss to Len’s lips.

Len took comfort in that and let his head drop to his husband’s shoulder, pressing his forehead there and sighing.

“Alright.”

Barry gave him a reassuring hug, just in case.

He was definitely going to have something to say to Michael about terrifying the hell out of his father with this stunt.

Then the phone rang and they both tensed and Barry looked at the ID. “It’s Eddie.”

“Oh God…” Len sounded almost winded. It was never a good thing to have a kid missing in the middle of the night, unable to locate them, and then suddenly get a call from the cops.

“Stop, Len, don’t. It’s nothing like that. Come on. You’re working yourself up again.” he wanted to point out that Michael’s upbringing and situation is MUCH different than Len’s, because he knew that’s where this panic was coming from. Len was remembering all of the dangerous, stupid things he did (and dangerous people he hung out with) that most kids with good family lives and happy homes didn’t get up to in the middle of the night, how many times the things he’d done back then could’ve resulted in his accidental death or murder. But, he didn’t want to bring it up. He was worried that if he did, it would make Len feel a thousand times more panicked.

Len took a deep breath and nodded as Barry took the call. It was brief and Len stared at Barry anxiously.

“Michael’s fine, they found him outside a 24-hour Mini Mart. Eddie’s bringing him home.” Barry said, so visibly relieved.

“What the hell was he doing there??” Len asked, relief flooding him, too. He was nearly weak in the knees with it.

“Eddie said he stopped to buy M&Ms on his way home, and then ran into some of his friends and they decided to walk around and talk for a while. Lost track of time. He was about to head home when Eddie found him.”

“What’s there to talk about for two hours in a Mini Mart??”

“I don’t know, Len. You know how kids are. They do weird things. We can ask him when they get here.”

Len is quiet for a moment, hugging Barry again, before he finally sighed and let go, paced a couple of times and then went over to the couch, moving it and some chairs around.

“This is…kind of an odd time to redecorate the family room, isn’t it?”

“I’m just rearranging things for now.” he said, making it so that the couch faced the door and was actually a bit closer than it needed to be to it, as well.

“Why…?”

“So that I’m the first damn thing he sees when he walks in this door and knows exactly what he’s in for.” Len answered, getting things situated the way he wanted to and then getting comfortable in the very center of the couch, glaring bloody daggers at the door, one leg propped on his knee at the ankle, and his elbows propped against the back of the couch, arms dangling down a bit.

Barry sighed. His husband always did have a flair for the dramatic.

“Really, Len?”

“Really, Barry.”

“Well, I guess at least you aren’t full Captain Cold mode right now.”

“I would never do that to our son. But…now that you mention it…” he looked meaningfully at the closet, as if considering.

“Your parka stays where it’s at.” Barry said firmly.

“Chill, Red. I wasn’t serious.”

“Oh my…” he sighed and facepalmed. At least Len was feeling better. Now he just wished Eddie would show up. Both so they could see their son for themselves, and also to hopefully head off anymore puns.

Or, at least, so that he wouldn’t have to suffer the puns alone…

**Author's Note:**

> I had some inspiration from specific episodes of Roseanne (s5e10; Good Girls, Bad Girls) and The Cosby Show (s5e11; Truth or Consequences) for this.
> 
> I feel a little bit of a need to explain Len's freaked out reaction, since in canon his character is pretty cool and collected most of the time. He does have a penchant for the dramatic, but in this case (as was mentioned in the ficlet) Michael's behavior is bringing back some pretty bad and serious memories for Len from when he was young. So, there's that on top of his worry that his son might be in danger, hurt or worse already, and by virtue of not knowing where he is or where to even start looking Len is powerless to protect him from it. You thought Barry was kidding about grounding Michael until he's 30? Lol, how naive. ;)


End file.
